How Many PHP Books Have You Read?

[JREAM]

How Many PHP Books Have You Read?

If you've read a lot which are your favorites, with a short reason why.

I'm just very curious :-)

[AnthonySterling]

Crikey, I must have 5-10 PHP books but have double that in programming methodologies (design patterns, best practices etc..).

Unfortunately, due to my very short attention span, I seem to get distracted by another more tempting book before I finish the one I'm reading.

I've only bought these in the last year or so though, so I have plenty of reading to do!

Favourites? Hmmm...

Clean Code(Really enjoyed this book, I think I finished this one! Explains best practice in a concise, very engaging and often humorous way.)
PHP Cookbook(Due to the aforementioned short attention span, it provides very short Problem -> Solution examples which I actually manage to complete.)
Head First Design Patterns(Very easy to read and surprisingly light on code.)
PHP in Action(Strictly PHP OO Applications from the ground up.)

[spence_noodle]

I've only read one, which sadly I cannot remember what the title is since I've lent it out to my younger brother. Now I use SPF or php.net to help out.

As soon as I get the book title I'll let you know.

[Cups]

How many have I read or how many have I bought?

hehe [looks around]

*trivia* I still have "Core PHP Programming" - the very first PHP book published AFAIK.

11 in total (that I can see here), one, maybe two of those were bargain buckets I just picked up and flicked through.

Favourite is "PHP in Action", it really is the business.

[a2K]

Does the php manual count?

I read the PHP Anthology from Sitepoint... meh

Clean code..I'll check into that.

[risoknop]

Only 2 - one very ancient still written for PHP4, and a newer one from Michael Kofler and Bernd Oggl (I think it wasn't published in English so I cannot give you link).

But I have read lots of programming documentation for various languages (C, C++ Builder, Assembly, C# and then lots of other computer related stuff like hardware architectures, automatization, microchips etc... the problem is I haven't dugg deeper into many of those so I have only basics) in college and also in free time if that counts

PHP/MySQL is basically only my free time hobby even though I've gotten pretty serious about it several months ago so I am already probably not a complete newbie.

[a2K]

I can't find Clean Code anywhere on the internet. All that comes up is people raving about programming practices. I can't find the book anywhere. Can someone help me out on this one? Thanks in advance.

[AnthonySterling]

Here you go.

[a2K]

Ah, too bad I was hoping to "buy" it [strike]Demonoid doesn't have it[/strike] I can't find a "sample" of the book anywhere.

[AnthonySterling]

It's well worth the money, in fact, I'd have paid double for it compared with some others!

You could checkout eBay?

[AlexDawson]

PHP5 and mySQL Bible... and it was an interesting read too

[UFTimmy]

1. No clue the title, but I read it in 2001 so it's pretty much worthless now.

[BJ Duncan]

I have 4 PHP books. The first PHP book I read (pretty much from cover to cover) was Larry Ullman PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Websites (it covered PHP3 and 4 and MySQL 3 and 4). This gave me a great foundation for the language. From there I expanded to the SPF and the Sitepoint books Build your Own Database-Driven Website and PHP Anthology. From here this lead onto books of other interest with my most recent delievery of Simply SQL. I am only up to the 3rd chapter so I will be writing my review soon about this book.

I know I sound like a massive SP advocate, and I am. I think between the hard copies and the PDF's, I have most of the SP library. I have looked around many other resources and sites, but SP seem to have the niche of web development and education, so I just stick with it.

[AlexDawson]

I have looked around many other resources and sites, but SP seem to have the niche of web development and education, so I just stick with it.

Don't get me wrong, I really like SitePoint and its books (I have some of them too) but I can't agree they have the niche of the web related books. O'Reilly, APress, New Riders and Wiley have a good number of high quality books in their collections.

For instance if I took New Riders (as an random example)...

• Zen of CSS Design
• (Eric / More Eric) Meyer on CSS
• Bulletproof (AJAX / Web Design)
• Designing with Web Standards
• Elements of User Experience
• Unusually Useful Web Book
• Hot Text
• (Designing / Prioritising) Web Usability
• Don't Make Me Think!

I have to say it really is hard to argue with a strong list of titles like that

[Jake Arkinstall]

Only ever 1 - The PHP Anthology.

[a2K]

I just got

Learning PHP5 by David Sklar (only one finished Downloading)
Clean Code
PHP6 A Beginners Guide
PHP6 and MySQL5 for Dynamic Web Sites

I'm going all out

~

[Jake Arkinstall]

Considering PHP6 isn't even finished yet, is it really a good idea for people to start writing books on it!?

[a2K]

And think of how long it takes to write a book. I'm starting to wonder if this book might have outdated code or practices Which one should I start with. PHP6 and MySQL5 book, or PHP5 by David Sklar?

[Jake Arkinstall]

You should start with the online PHP manual, and learn PHP the right way.

If you really want a book, get one published since 2007; PHP5.2 was a fairly significant update in terms of the function/object library, and was published late 2006 - so a decent book on it would date 2007 or later.

[RyanReese]

1. After that it made me leave PHP.

[Martin Bean]

Not an intentional plug, but SitePoint's The PHP Anthology (2nd edition) and Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL.

I've also read (and own) another PHP book, but the exact name escapes me and I don't have to hand at this moment in time. And as aforementioned, the online PHP manual for times of developer's block or just to look something up!

[a2K]

I'm going to read the manual first and learn what they recommend and so on then I might check out other books. Thanks arkinstall

~

[Jake Arkinstall]

1. After that it made me leave PHP.

What are you referring to?

And you still have PHP in your sig

Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL.

Thats one book I can't stand. I've never read it, but many readers come to these forums and post some really outdated code (@mysql_query etc). I'm not sure if they're reading outdated versions of the book, or all versions are outdated.

[a2K]

I think Ryan was referring to reading the manual made him leave PHP? According to his last posts he doesn't post in SQL, JavaScript, or Java. Just HTML and CSS then I guess..

Man this manual has a lot of stuff

~

[RyanReese]

arkinstall, I know PHP but I don't study it anymore becuase of the book I read...oh god let me do some googling to find the title...I burned the book after reading some of the crap in there. I got it at my library.